Dem To IRS Victims: 'If You Didn't...Ask for this Tax Break,' This Wouldn't Have Happened

Victims of IRS targeting would never have been scrutinized if they "didn't come in and ask for" a tax break, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) told conservative groups at a hearing today.

"As I listen to this discussion I'd like to remind everybody what we're talking about here. None of your organizations were kept from organizing or silenced. We're talking about whether or not the American tax payers will subsidize your work" Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA) said during this morning's House Ways and Means Committee hearing on the IRS scandal.

"We're talking about a tax break. If you didn't come in and ask for this tax break you would've never had a question asked of you" Rep. McDermott continued.

He also suggested that groups allegedly targeted by the IRS because of their conservative political leanings "could go out there and say anything you want in the world."

Thus, McDermott said, he got the feeling that many of the conservative groups wanted to be free not just from "political targeting" but also "free from any scrutiny at all."